5 legit ways to make money online as a proofreader (Earn $26/hour)

How to make money online as a proofreader?🤷‍♂️

Ever wondered how some ads or any other forms of digital content are flawlessly written without any errors!!

Some pieces of content deliver the message to the audience in the way it is meant to be while some fail miserably.

Who helps to rectify and finalize a perfect piece of content that reaches the audience.

Well you might have guessed it right, it’s the “proofreaders who come to the rescue”.

Who are proofreaders?

Proofreaders are the ones who help to catch the minor mistakes or errors in a piece of writing in digital form of content.

Let’s have a look at the following examples of proofreaders.

Incorrect Form : Colourful graphic arts is a matured technique in inkjet printing.

Correct Form: Colorful graphic arts is a matured technique in inkjet printing.

Incorrect Form: Thanks for the chance you gave to work for you over the past 10 years.

Correct Form: Thanks for giving us an opportunity to work for you over the past decade.

Incorrect Form: he chooses to remain silence even though he knows everything.

Correct Form: He chose to remain silent even though he knew everything.

If you look at all the above examples, everything marked in red has some minor errors and mistakes.

Proofreaders can offer their services and help to find errors and mistakes in any form of digital content such as:

• Blogs.
• Newspaper publications.
• E-books.
• Advertising and other media industries.
• Project submissions or other articles published online.

Besides these, proofreaders also help to identify the following 4 issues:

• Spelling errors.
• Grammatical mistakes.
• Punctuation mistakes.
• Errors in capitalization.

Apart from the above they also help to check the structure of a sentence, formatting of text, consistency and flow of language intended etc.

What are the skills required to be a proofreader?

You might say,”I must be excellent in English and grammar to be able to be a proofread”.

Well the good news is, that’s not entirely true!!😃😃

While you don’t need to hold a PhD. degree in English, having a bachelor’s degree in English or journalism/communication definitely helps a lot.

A person with a bachelor’s degree will be given higher preference than others.

This enhances the chances significantly to make money online as a proofreader.

Besides these let’s look at the other skills necessary for a proofreader:

• Ability to work under tight deadlines and meet client expectations.
• Sound knowledge of English literature and grammar involved.
• Keen eye and clarity towards everything.
• Good communication skills.
• Being keen towards working with organisations under any circumstances.

Did You Know: An estimated 97% 😵 of employers have agreed that soft skills in a candidate impacts their performance in job.

What are the benefits of proofreading?

You might be wondering what is the importance of hiring someone who can proofread and make the text error free.

But proofreading serves several benefits such as:

• It gives an assurance that the written content is correct and serves the purpose intended for.
• It makes the writing clear, concise and to the point which ensures high quality of content.

Thus it is important to understand how a grammatically correct message can play a pivotal role.

Key point: A grammatically correct message can have a 10x impact 🚀when compared to grammatically incorrect one.

What are the different aspects related to proofreading?

Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of being a proofreader.

Pros

• Good option for side hustle and make money online as a proofreader.
• Flexibility to work from anywhere around the globe.
• Provides an easy entry for beginners to make money online as a proofreader(lot of job options available).
• No high cost associated with commencement of business.
• Provides a high income earning potential.
• Anyone can be a proofreader who fulfills the skills as required.

Cons

• Deadlines set by the client are strict and must be followed always.
• This demands discipline and focus to complete and deliver the work on time.
• Needs enough time over a period to build your own client base in the long run.

How much do proofreaders make?

Proofreading has emerged as a good side hustle business idea which has been on the rising trend lately.

The earnings of proofreaders can vary and depend on multiple on factors,such as:

1. Relevant experience of the candidate.
2. Client or the project one is working upon.
3. Payment terms that are set in between client and the proofreader.
4. Number of the clients that you are working upon.

Above factors play a key role to decide on how to make money online as a proofreader.

Following are some of the stats to help is understand better how much do proofreaders make:

Annually

As per salary.com, the average salary of a proofreader is around $54,000 per annum.🤑🤑

An average variance of the salary would be around $41,000-$68,000 per annum.

Hourly

As per salary.com, the average salary of a proofreader is around $26 per hour.😉

An average variance of the salary would be around $20-$33 per hour.

Here’s an interesting insight of salaries of proofreader as per different industries:

How do you become a professional proofreader online?

Following are the 6 aspects to be able to ace the next proofreader job online and make money online as a proofreader :

• Have a full idea of details of work involved before commencement of work.

This usually involves rectification of typo errors, formatting and setting proper style or layout of the work.

Identification of grammatical errors, spaces or gaps in between texts etc.

Note: So it’s always recommended to discuss about the full scope of the involved with client before you begin the work.

• Attaining necessary qualifications as discussed earlier, if desired such as a Bachelor’s degree in English or Journalism etc.
• Selection of the right niche of your preference such as technology, advertisement/public relations, business support etc. before starting out.
• Improvement of desired skills to perfection. This needs consistency and as much practice as possible with patience.
• Now it’s time to begin the hunt to find proofreading jobs online.
• Finally it’s time to work upon your resume and add your skill sets to obtain better opportunities.

Very often people get confused with copywriting and proofreading.

But there’s a good difference between both.

What is the difference between copywriting and proofreading?

Here’s a quick glance for differences between Copywriting and proofreading:

Particulars	Copywriter	Proofreader
Purpose	To make the text error free and readable by giving own input	To make subsequent edits as necessary before publishing the final digital copy
Sequence	Comes before the work of proofreader	Comes after the work of copywriter
Scope of work	Large	Small

What is the demand for proofreaders?

More and more businesses are going digital with each passing day💻.

There is a growing need for someone who can ensure that digital content reaches the audience in the right context it is meant to be. 

This is where the proofreaders fill in the gap in the market.

Services of proofreaders can be relied upon to make it error free and grammatically correct for everyone.

Did you know – At a growth rate of almost 12% , digital content is expected to touch $38.2 billion worldwide.

This makes it obvious that the proofreaders are expected to witness the same level of surge in the demand in the years to come by.

Let’s find out how you can find job opportunities online as a proofreader.

How to find job opportunities online as a proofreader?

Finding job opportunities online is not a difficult task. 

Living in the digital age there are plenty of options available when it comes to finding online jobs. 

Following is a compilation of list of top 5 best websites where you can avail freelancing services which are:

1. Fiverr

Fiverr has been one of the most top rated platforms for getting freelance work online.

The freelancer community has grown tremendously over the years touching almost 3.4 million in 2020.

This makes it one of the top rated places to find work online.

You can offer your services as a proofreader which are known as “gigs”.

Services are generally offered here as low as $5 and increases with relevant experience and expertise.

Levels are specified for each service provided and you can offer multiple gigs along with proofreading.

Any extra add on services can be charged suitably as well.

👉Click here to visit Fiverr and start you gig now.

2. Upwork

Another freelancing site which ranks among the top 10 is Upwork.

Started around 2015, the platform has evolved over the period of time and has seen immense success as well.

👉Click Here to visit Upwork and start finding freelancing services now.

You will find all the relevant job postings available. 

Set up in 2007 this site also offers an equivalent plethora of services as offered by others.

3. Flexjobs

This is a great platform for anyone looking for a job with some flexibility in their workings.

This is more suited for freelancers, caretakers, military spouses, caretakers of loved ones etc.

The only downside of using Flexjobs is the payment of subscriptions used for availing the services.

Coming at various pricing plans, one can go with weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually.

To know more about the pricing structure, 👉 click here.

This also comes with a monthly cancellation of subscription service being offered.

You can always cancel your membership from Flexjobs platform if not satisfied from it.

4. Proofreadingservices

This is another great platform specifically built to make money online as a proofreader.

This gives suitable opportunities.

Following are the things to remember for use of the platform:

1. The pay pricing ranges from $19-$46 per hour. This depends mostly on how quickly you deliver the task.

Thus shorter the time higher the amount that will be paid.

2. A 20 minute preliminary test will be conducted to become a proofreader in their platform.

3. The platform offers job opportunities to full time and part time proofreaders which is a massive opportunity for all.

5. LinkedIn

Everyone must have definitely heard of this platform.

LinkedIn has the potential to connect you to the right person where you can apply for proofreading service.

This is a completely professional service based platform where any job seeker can apply for.

One must create an impressive resume that must be curated and suited to the needs of the job you are applying for.

This platform started way back in 2003 and now has over 332 million members 😮 signed up.

This simply shows the massive potential that this platform has on offer for anyone looking for proofreading jobs.

Get in touch with your prospective client directly to increase your chances of grabbing the work.

Here’s a list of other additional platforms to check out for proofreading services:

• Scribe Media
• Scribendi
• Wordvice
• Gramlee
• Editor World
• Wordy
• Scribbr
• English Trackers
• Cactus Communications
• Proofreading Pal
• Freelancer
• Writer’s Relief
• Polished Paper
• WordsRU
• Sibia Proofreading
• EditFast

Key Takeaways

Following are 5 key takeaways on how to make money online as proofreader:

• Proofreaders are the ones who help to catch the minor mistakes or errors in a piece of writing in digital form of content.
• One must possess a sound Knowledge of English literature and grammar which is necessary for a proofreader.
• Proofreader is a good side hustle business idea which provides utmost flexibility to work from home at your own convenience and time.
• Proofreaders earn an average annual payment of $54000 or $26 per hour.
• Several online freelancing platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork, LinkedIn, Proofreadingservices etc offer online job opportunities for proofreaders.

FAQ

Further FAQ Questions

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